Burton, who previously spent 11 years at Goldman Sachs
Group Inc., will be a principal in Blackstone’s Strategic
Partners business, according to a statement today from the New
York-based firm. At H/2 Burton was a managing director focusing
on distressed commercial mortgage investments.

Blackstone acquired the Strategic Partners unit last year
from Credit Suisse Group AG, expanding its traditional buyout
business to include the practice of buying and selling stakes in
private-equity funds. The market for secondary fund stakes is
expected to grow in the next year as heightened regulatory
measures such as the Volcker Rule lead banks to dispose of their
private-equity investments to raise capital, according to a
report last month from research firm Preqin Ltd.

Blackstone’s unit, run by Stephen Can and Verdun Perry,
oversees $15.5 billion in committed capital and is raising its
sixth fund with a $4.4 billion target, according to Blackstone’s
second-quarter earnings statement. The group competes with firms
including Ardian, Lexington Partners Inc. and Coller Capital
Ltd., which have the three biggest mounds of uncalled capital,
according to Preqin.

Strategic Partners has produced an internal rate of return
of 14 percent, according to Blackstone’s earnings statement. The
group is investing its fourth real estate fund after starting to
buy property fund stakes in 2000, according to the statement
today.

“The addition of Mark to our business will significantly
strengthen our current real estate activities and allow us to
continue capitalizing on opportunities in the real estate
secondaries market,” Perry said in today’s statement.